Class action launched against Bupa Aged Care

An Australian law firm has today announced that it has commenced a class action against Bupa aged care facilities on behalf of residents.

Echo Law alleges that from July 1 2019 “Bupa Aged Care failed to provide staffing levels that would meet minimum acceptable standards in each of its aged care homes."

The law firm says it “is seeking to recover damages for breach of contract and for breaches of the guarantees owed to consumers under the Australian Consumer Law.”

Echo Law senior associate Dr Lauren Meath confirmed that the firm has lodged proceedings with the Federal Court of Australia.

“Going into aged care is rarely an easy decision for individuals and their families. Bupa markets itself as a high-quality provider with sufficient, well trained staff ready to provide a high level of personalised support, but the evidence shows that Bupa’s homes regularly and consistently fall below minimum acceptable benchmarks for care,” Dr Meath said of the allegations in the class action.

“Aged care residents and their families should be able to trust that they will receive safe and high‑quality care when entering aged care. The experience should match what is promised and marketed by Bupa, and what is expected by the Australian community and at law. Sadly at Bupa that has not been the case.”

The allegations against Bupa Aged Care claim that the provider:

• Breached the contractual obligations it owes to residents under its Resident Agreements; and
• Contravened consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law by failing to provide services that are fit for purpose and delivered with due care and skill.

“We know that staff on the floor are doing their best to provide safe and high-quality care. But individual nurses, care workers and support staff can only do so much. Bupa’s own reporting confirms wide‑spread understaffing and failures to meet the minimum acceptable level of care required under Australian law at each of its aged care facilities. These are systemic failures at the corporate level and at the expense of residents,” says Dr Meath.

“Aged care residents have the same rights as any other member of the community, however those rights are all too often ignored. This class action seeks to enforce those rights and ensure that there are consequences for Bupa’s failings.”

Bupa have issued a statement in response the announcement from Echo Law:

“Bupa received a claim from Echo Law just this morning and we are currently taking some time to review the claim,” the spokesperson said.

“Since 2019, we have invested in our people, our leadership teams and our model of care, and our quality and compliance outcomes reflect this.

“As this is now a legal matter, it isn’t appropriate to provide further comment at this time.”

This is not the first time the aged care provider has faced allegations regarding the care of residents.

Five years ago during the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, Bupa facilities were named among those in which there was evidence of “unacceptably high levels of substandard care.”

This time last year The Sunday Telegraph published an article detailing “a few incidents” of maggots in wounds and "unintended weight loss” in residents at Bupa Aged Care homes.

At the time a Bupa spokesperson said “the health and wellbeing of our residents is our top priority.”

“Clinical Safety Alerts are part of our clinical governance. If we have concerns about an incident, we will share an alert with our broader team to ensure everyone across our 7,000-strong team learns from these, and takes appropriate action where needed.”

More recently, in data from the Department of Health and Aged Care, it was revealed that residents in over 200 aged care homes across Australia never feel safe, including a Bupa owned and operated home in NSW, which was among some of the lowest-ranked aged care homes, with eight per cent of residents saying they never felt safe, The Daily Telegraph reported.

A class action member, who is participating on behalf of her late father, said she was “horrified” by the gaps in staffing and training at a Bupa facility.

“Dad lived a life of dignity and service. He had an active social life, loved the rugby, and loved his family.”

“It is every child’s worst nightmare to see their parent treated so poorly at a vulnerable time in their life. Our family trusted that Bupa would deliver what they promised and are required under law to provide. Our experience was soul destroying. I hope this class action serves to ensure no other resident has to experience the poor care my dad endured.”

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Residents who lived at a Bupa Aged Care home between 1 July 2019 and 11 April 2025 can contact Echo Law for more information.